Temptation
TEMPTATION ' Nyla and her friends have always been confident in what they're doing, never being tempted to go another way. But one day, they meet someone special who may change their lives forever... Writen by Sandy, the author of Wisdom P.s I put some calming music in the background to help get you set into the mood of the story :) Being TEMPTED is something I hate. I prefer knowing what I what to do, not being TEMPTED to go a different path. Chapter One The lights of the Twolegplace started to flicker and turn on, sending white beams of light flying across the ground. Some Twolegs howled in annoyance, others simply ignored the lights and closed the curtains, going back to sleep. I felt anxious for my Twolegs to wake up and let me out. I had been up for '''hours, and that wasn't an overstatement. I was looking forward to seeing my friends, but I was SUPER looking forward to gazing out over the forest, the beautiful forest... Maybe when I was let out I could go explore the forest? I wouls like that and I hissed in frustration. Why did my Twoleg's sleep in? Hadn't they heard the saying? The early bird catches the worm. Or, as me and my friends said, the early cat catches the mouse. I looked up at the kitchen bech and hoped my Twolegs had left some left-overs on the bench from last-night's movie-watching. I gave an almighty leap and scrambled on to the benchtop, sighing in pleasure mixed with relief. They had left out some chips; I didn't mind chips. But before I could get a hole of one, the light in my Twolegs' bedroom let up and my female Twoleg came out, baring her teeth as he gaze rested on me. I leaped off the benchtop and hurried over to her Twoleg, brushing against the Twoleg's bare skin. The female Twoleg seemed to purr and leaned down to scratch me behind the ears; I dodged and led the Twoleg over to the catflap, where I got in and out. The Twoleg meowed something and unlocked the catflap, and watched me race out. I rolled over in the soft grass on my Twolegs' soft lawn, relishing the feeling of the grass rubbing over her flanks. "You seem glad to be out," said a familiar voice and I leaped to my paws, embarrassed. There, sitting on the fence that kept the Twolegplace seperate from the forest, was a very handsome ginger and white tom, with green eyes wide with fake innocence. "Your Twolegs let you out early," I muttered. "You're a lucky one, Flash." The tom, Flash, purred and leaped down, landing beside me with a muffled thump. '' "Streak was out earlier than me for once! She got let out at 2am!" Flash exclaimed, his long tail thrashing the ground excitedly. "And Morley broke out through the window!" I laughed. Morley was Flash's neighbor, and although he never came out much, I enjoyed how amusing Morley was. "Have any of the rogues visited you this morning? Or one of the loners?" I asked Flash and he replied, "Chet and Sabra came and visited. But they had to go soon after, their families worrying, you know?" I was semi-friendly with Sabra, but me and Chet did not get on well at all. I had been hoping maybe Neyla, Penbroke or Andromena had come, but they would probably turn up later. "Has Clancy come out?" Clancy was my brother, a stormy-grey furred tom with icy blue eyes who loved to explore over the fence. "Yeah, he went just into the first few trees," Flash said casually but I flared up. "He could be hurt! Why did you not tell him to not go?" Flash scuffled his paws. "He's never come back with an injury before," he said slowly. "And Clancy knows what he's doing. He did after all go to camp and was trained by Zody of all cats." I retorted, "that doesn't mean he might get seriously hurt! I'm going out after him!" I ignored Flash's protest and leaped up onto the wall, and got down on the other side. I took a sharp intake of breath. I had never gone over the wall, unlike my brother, I had been too scared to. The oaks grew taller and taller and soon they were so tall I couldn't see the top as I neared. I gulped and hurried forward, eager to find my brother, '''quickly'. The rustle coming from under a bush made me jump, but it was only a mouse. "Psst, you there! Come here, it's not safe out there in the open!" Hissed a voice and I was yanked into the nearby bushes, yowling in terror. "What the-" "Shut it! Do you want it to find us? Or are you stupid? You're not the brightest one, that's for sure..." "Excus you!" I open my eyes and see that I'm in a burrow, and a cat was crouching in the shadows. "Who even are you?" I demanded, getting to my shaky paws but keeping my voice even and steady. The cat stepped out of the shadows and I gasped, slapping my face wuth my paw. The cat, a tom, was scarred all over, clawmarks scarring his pelt and one of his eyes closed by a scratch. He had long, ragged and knotted fur, and wild eyes, staring right at me. "I'm Brandy. I just saved your life from a fox. Where's your 'thank you'?" Brandy shook his head and his whole air settled down. I relaxed a little, but not by much, preparing myself to strike if I needed to. "Listen, Brandy. My brother's out there somewhere and I need to find him. His housefolk will be terrified!" Brandy sighed and blinked his eyes, tilting his head slightly at me. "So you, a kittypet, are out here looking for your fellow kittypet brother? I didn't know you'd become braver..." He smirked at me and I scowled. He turned serious once more. "Your brother, is he a stormy-grey furred tom with icy blue eyes?" I nodded and couldn't help but gape. "How did you know?" "I saw him, he leaped over the wall." I breathed a sigh of relief. Clancy was safe. Then I stiffened. If Flash told Clancy I went out looking for him, Clancy would come looking for me. I needed to get out of here, ASAP. I moved f0r the entrance for the stuffy burrow but I was held back by strong claws. "You mustn't leave yet!" Brandy said urgently, finally pulling me backwards towards him. "Do you want to be killed by a fox?" "Better me than my brother!" I yowl, breaking free of his grip and racing for the entrance, where I slip out, and land on a soft pile of leaves. There is a tang of fox-scent in the air, but it was stale-ish. Brandy came out behind me, furious. "Come. I know a safe way back. A way that doesn't cut across a fox's den." He pushed past me and stalked off through a line of flower bushes, and I follow, casting wary glances around my surroudings, looking out for a fox. Brandy was a confident cat. He knew every step of the way back to the Twolegplace, he knew every hole, every dip, every tree, every rock and every leaf. He seemed so confident I wondered why he stopped and looked around, confused, in a hollow. "I don't remember that," he whispered and I followed his gaze, and gasped in horror. A cat lay, quite clearly dead, across the middle of the clearing, covered in blood and scars. It had pitch-black fur and blue eyes that were still open. I backed away, but Brandy pushed me forward. "We have to go around this," he murmured, leading me away from the hollow and the dead cat carcass. "Did the fox kill it?" I asked him in hushed tones. Brandy responded weakly, "no. A cat murdered that pour soul." I broke into a run, seeing the edge of the forest and the wall to the Twolegplace. Brandy follows, more slowly though. He was clearly wary around the wall and told me hurriedly as I climbed to the top of the wall and sat down. "I might see you some time in the near furture!" And with that, he raced back towards the forest, his long, knotted and ragged fur dragging along the grass. "See you, Brandy!" I called after him as his bushy tail disappeared in the thick treeline. I leaped down onto the mowed grass of my housefolks' lawn and I heard a relived voice cry out, "thank god Nyla! We were worried!" Almost all of my friends rushed over to me, bombarding me with questions. "Sis! I heard you went out after me," Clancy murmured and I murmured back, "any good sibling would do the same." "Did you see any wild cats?" Rasped Morley, who had obviously come out of his den just for this. "I met one," I replied, "he lead me back here. His den is just under the denser treeline after the first one." Morley's eyes widened atthis news and he turned away, running back to where his den was. "Where's Morley going?" Whispered a silkly smooth voice. I looked up and saw my friend, Ekta, who was gazing over her shoulder at Clancy, who was boasting about how brave he and I had been to venture out into the forest. It was widely known Ekta loved Clancy. "Morley was bewildered when I told him I met a wild cat," I said simply and Ekta shrugged, padding over to Clancy and batting her eyes at him. Ekta was a sleek golden furred she-cat with ice blue eyes, but she still failed to capture Clancy's heart. Clancy, after all, had fallen in love with someone else, but he refused to tell anyone who that was, even me. I padded over to join my friends and one of them, Ambrosia, rested her tail across my shoulders, her sleek amber pelt rippling in the slight breeze. "I think we'd all like to know what happened in there," Ambrosia said loudly, pointing her tail towards the forest and eyeing me questioningly. "Yeah!" Yowled Streak, a ranbunctious white and mossy-brown she-cat who ducked her head in embarrassment when everyone turned to stare at her. "I, um..." I trailed off, unsure whether to skip seeing the dead cat or not. Ambrosia patted my shoulder gently with her tail and suggested, "why don't you take one of us up on the fence and tell the one you choose what happened and then they can tell us what you told them, okay?" Ambrosia was rasping for breath after that long sentence and I breathed in relief. "Good idea," I say hastily. "Um, Flash. Flash come with me." Streak wolf-whistled and I swore I heard Ekta mutter, "they're gonna have kits soon." Little did they know, I, like Clancy, had already fallen for someone. A Clan cat, to be precise. I had met him a few moons ago, on the moor while I was playing with Flash and Morley. His name was Runningpaw, and he seemed nice enough. He had two brothers, Harepaw and Lionpaw. I prefered Runningpaw and Harepaw to Lionpaw. Soon I found I was meeting him at night on the moor, sometimes Harepaw tagging along. I liked Harepaw's conmpany. Sometimes me and Runningpaw would talk about kits, but that's a story for another time. Flash seemed to blush a little as we leaped up on to the fence together, his pelt brushing mine on accident. "Sorry," he mumbled. TBC